Jokowi: Violence In Myanmar Must Stop, Democracy Returns

President Jokowi at the ASEAN Leaders' Meeting (ALM) (Photo via ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo emphasized that violence in Myanmar must be stopped. Jokowi in the ASEAN Leaders' Meeting (ALM) said that democracy in Myanmar must be returned immediately.

"The development of the situation in Myanmar is something that is unacceptable and must not continue. Violence must be stopped, democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be returned immediately," said President Joko Widodo during a press conference at the ASEAN Secretariat building, Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Saturday. , April 24th.

President Jokowi conveyed this accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung.

ALM was attended by 10 leaders and representatives of ASEAN member countries, including the current ASEAN Chair who is also the Head of State of Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and ASEAN Secretary General Dato Lim Jock Hoi.

"The interests of the Myanmar people must always be the priority," the President stressed.

President Jokowi mentioned three things that were requested by Indonesia to the Myanmar military leader.

"In this meeting I also conveyed the importance of the Myanmar military leadership to make a commitment, namely the first commitment request is to stop the use of violence from the Myanmar military," said the President.

At the same time all parties must exercise restraint so that tensions can be defused.

"Request for a second commitment, an inclusive dialogue process must be started, political prisoners must be released immediately," said Jokowi.

President Jokowi sees the need for the formation of an ASEAN Special Envoy, namely the Secretary General and Chair of ASEAN to encourage dialogue with all parties in Myanmar.

"The third request for commitment is the opening of access to humanitarian assistance from ASEAN which is coordinated by the Secretary General of ASEAN and the AHA Center (The ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management)," said the President.

The Indonesian government, according to President Jokowi, is committed to safeguarding the three requests for commitment so that the crisis in Myanmar can be resolved.

"I am grateful that what Indonesia has said is in line with what the ASEAN leaders said, so it can be said that the ASEAN leaders have reached a consensus," said the President.

President Jokowi said that the Secretary General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi had delivered five points of consensus, the contents of which were more or less the same as Indonesia's national statement.

"We should be grateful that in the end the ASEAN Leaders Meeting can be held today since I called the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam on March 23, 2021 together with the chair, Indonesia is working hard to ensure that this ALM can be held," said the President.

The leaders and representatives of ASEAN countries in ALM are Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, President Joko Widodo, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Furthermore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines as Special Envoy for the Philippines Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand as Special Envoy for Thailand Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos as Special Envoy for Laos Saleumxay Kommasith, and Commander of Myanmar Military General Min Aung Hlaing.